The present invention provides a multipurpose cargo tie down system including a cargo tie down adapter having a housing adapted to be secured to a transport vehicle and a cargo ring coupled to the housing to provide a tie down for noncontainerized cargo, and a mounting apparatus adapted to be attached to a containerized cargo conveyance system, the housing including a receptacle adapted to receive and selectively attach the mounting apparatus and the cargo conveyance system to the housing without requiring removal of the cargo ring.
Transport vehicles, such as cargo airplanes, are used to transport noncontainerized cargo such as combat ground vehicles. Cargo rings are typically secured to the deck of the airplane for use in tying down the noncontainerized cargo to the deck to restrain movement within the airplane. In addition to carrying noncontainerized cargo, cargo airplanes also carry containerized cargo in unitized containers or unit load devices. Containerized cargo requires a conveyance system for loading and unloading the containerized cargo within the airplane.
Cargo rings are currently attached to the deck of cargo airplanes by a strap and two bolts extending through the strap into the deck of the airplane. When containerized cargo is to be transported by the cargo airplane, all of the cargo rings must be removed from the deck of the airplane prior to the installation of the containerized cargo conveyance system. Many man hours are required to remove hundreds of bolts that fasten the cargo rings to the deck of the airplane. Many more man hours are then required to bolt down the containerized cargo conveyance system in the locations where the cargo rings were previously located. Not only are many man hours required to remove all of the bolts for the cargo rings and to install all of the bolts for the containerized cargo conveyance system, but the installers must also contend with different sizes of bolts at random locations.
The present invention provides a cargo tie down adapter that is adapted to be secured to the deck of a transport vehicle such as a cargo airplane. The adapter includes a cargo ring to provide a tie down for noncontainerized cargo such as ground vehicles and also includes a housing including a receptacle having a dovetail slot and a retention cavity for attaching modular containerized cargo conveyance system hardware to the housing. The presence of the dovetail slot and retention cavity in the housing of the cargo tie down adapter eliminates the need to remove the cargo rings during installation of the containerized cargo conveyance system. The cargo rings that are mounted to the deck of the cargo airplane as part of the cargo tie down adapter never need to be removed. Many man hours are thus saved when switching the cargo airplane from a noncontainerized cargo carrier to a containerized cargo carrier and back again.